What is leadership?

Good morning everyone, I am Yathin and for today’s group discussion, we will be discoursing on the topic Are Leaders Born, or made?

What is leadership?

Leaders help themselves and others to do the right things. They set direction, build an inspiring vision, and create something new. Leadership is about mapping out where you need to go to "win" as a team or an organization; and it is dynamic, exciting, and inspiring.

I am sure that some of you might agree on my point while others might not, but I would like to say that Leadership is a born quality. The tendency of the leader is to handle a complete unit in a supporting and controlling way at the same time. Great Man theory and Trait theories believe that people inherit certain qualities and traits that make them better suited to leadership.

Kalash:

But Behavioural Theories believe that people can become leaders through the process of teaching, learning and observation. Leadership is a set of skills that can be learned by training, perception, practice and experience over time, it cannot be inherited from our ancestors nor can be God gifted. Leadership learning is a lifetime activity.

I agree Leadership is a skill and like every other skill it can also be trained and learned. Every leader succeeded and failed in what they sought to do but they learned from their failures, they learned through trials and error. This skill comes from different personal experiences throughout the life along with different natural traits. The surrounding they have been in also impacts their thought process and the way they lead a team.

I believe if leadership was a skill, then with training and education, everyone would emerge as a leader, which doesn't explain why everyone is not a leader. In fact, it is easier to teach people to follow than to teach them to lead. I would also like to mention that studies have shown that genetics have a substantial effect on leadership. Of course, there is no single gene for leadership, but a unique combination of genes affect our decisive skills, response to stress, extroversion, sense of responsibility, to name a few.

I also believe Leadership is an in born quality.leadership is a special trait that only few selected people have. Though many a people get the position of handling a team or the unit, still not everyone attains success to a significant magnitude.The leaders who are born to rule the world definitely show up their charm since childhood.These qualities cannot be attained by any course of personality management. A person can shape his inner zeal and quality with the crash course for the same. But no course in the world can teach to inculcate new qualities which is not there in the genes of the person.Thus, leaders are definitely born, and not made on earth.

But if it is so, It is not most likely that a person will have high-end skills in delegation, team-building, or good-communication. A person can only learn them through years of experience. Only when a person is exposed to different scenarios and understands the need for these traits then a person can actually put efforts to acquire them.

Now for the made part of it, I believe,Even if one is born with a leadership gene it would still have to be cultivated into something functional. And this enhancement of already present genetic factors is being confused with making of a leader.Thus I would like to elaborate again that leadership qualities must be inborn.

If you claim that gene plays something important role in leadership then why the children of many successful person are not successful ,like if it is true then today Rahul Gandhi should have been the the prime minister of india not narendra modi.In my view leadership is just about giving smart time of your life for a long time ,how successful you are as a leader depends upon how much time you have given into this process.

True, even a leader’s ability to plan carefully and perfectly is also equally important which aren’t genetic. Having steady nerves in a crisis cannot be underestimated, but can be learned through practice. Even at times our great leader Gandhiji had to be quite flexible. At times he had to change his plans to counter British rules and tactics. And this flexibility is gained through experience and prior knowledge of the topic.

Born leaders are people with an innate capacity to effectively manage and lead groups of people to achieve collective goals. Instead of learning to become an effective leader, they have the instinctive ability to inspire others and encourage them to follow their vision. Mahatma Gandhi is a man whose courage and leadership had a profound impact and shaped the world for the better. So he is born leader not made.

Priyanshu:

I agree with my friend point but my opinion is leader are made not born they learn from trial and experience. I have seen how leaders are developed when they put themselves in overwhelming situation. I have also seen very talented people who are lazy and lack passion and convicition over time. Those who develop themselves are the ones people look to as their leaders.

Numerous great leaders once started from scratch. They did not come to this planet as a great leader. They learnt to be one. They had experiences, worked on themselves, believed in their causes and were determined to give them definition. That is what gave their leadership recognition. Mahatma Gandhi was not a born leader but due to all his experiences that he had in South Africa protesting against racism lead to develop skills in him, which turned him into a big leader in the India’s struggle of independence.

However, if leadership is all based on experiences, then how do children, who have had no training, exhibit leadership skills at young ages? This shows the presence of an inner, inherent impulse to take charge in leaders, which also suggests why everyone cannot be an effective leader.

Yess I agree that children didn’t had any proper training for developing leadership quality but they learned it through observation. They observe their parents,teachers and elders handling different situations, in different teams, in different ways. Even they develop the other necessary skills like team-building and patience through different activities they participate in, be it sports, music or any other activity. They learn it without even realising that they are getting prepared for being a good leader.